Alexander Fyodorovich
Kerensky (1881-1970) was the last President of Russia before the Bolshevik
coup d’état of October 1917 (often referred as ‘old’ Russia or ‘that’ Russia
to distinguish it from Russia of the Soviet and Post-Soviet times).

It is still believed that
Kerensky would lead Russia to the era of freedom and justice, something of a
golden age, which would be a breakthrough into the civilized world – that has
been destroyed by the Soviet regime and never recovered again.

He entered the
Provisional Government as Minister of Justice, and in May 1917 he became
Minister of War.

His trips to the front
and inspiration of the soldiers were remembered by many

but it was too late: the
army was not willing to attack.

Unable to save the state
from crisis, Prince Georgy Lvov resigned in July 1917, and Kerensky was
appointed Prime-Minister and President of the Government (on July 8, OS [July
21, NS]).

His
major deeds were: abolition of the death penalty, universal suffrage,
granting equal freedoms to women, promoting the establishment of the
Patriarch for the Russian Orthodox Church.

The contemporaries used
to consider Kerensky as a Russian Napoleon – implying an influential leader
who had placed his trust in the love of the people, but who had overlooked
the reality of tedious and dirty political games.

The modern historians
prefer to speak about the ‘phenomenon’ of Kerensky and emphasize that for a
fleeting moment long, long ago, Russians enjoyed more civil liberties than
other nations did.

‘I hate tedious calculations, I
prefer to ACT.

Let it increase the
risks; but one cannot succeed when he accounts a lot and never deceits to
DO it’ – Kerensky explained the ‘mystery’ of his success in 1917.

Kerensky belonged to the
popular Socialist-Revolutionary Party, although his doctrine implied
cooperation with the whole range of political movements and it was often
criticized by both ‘right’ and ‘left’ radicals.

Nevertheless, he was a
brilliant orator of his time and the masses admired him.

His talent to preach was
based on sentiments rather than rational speculation, passion rather than
deep theory.

It is clear that he was
born to an intelligent and religious family (his uncle and grandfather were
orthodox priests, his relatives lived in the Penza Region).

Letter to the relatives (text: ‘to be
returned to Shura’ - i.e. Alexander; postal stamp – Penza, 1908 or 1903?)

Kerensky's father, the
headmaster of a secondary school in the city of Simbirsk, was known to
Lenin’s father Ylya Ulyanov (who inspected the schools of the region). In
fact, their families lived in close friendship, but there is no reason to
derive the revolutionary zeal of the leaders from their childhood: Vladimir
Lenin (born in 1870) was much older than Alexander Kerensky. By the way,
Lenin was, of course, an analytic-minded politician, less emotional, less
passionate, but deriving his philosophy from rational logic, to whom the
ethical principles of humanism implied almost nothing.

Young
Alexander Kerensky with his mother (ca. 1884-86)

Many real facts of
Kerensky's life remain almost unknown or shielded with legends, rumors, and
fantastic tales.

Among them: his ‘death’
in the Soviet Union around 1947, his Jewish origin and his ‘real name’ of
Aron Kirbis, his escape from the Winter Palace dressed in woman clothes – no
more than myths invented by the Soviets.

Meanwhile,
on October 26, Kerensky was in Gatchina with the general Pyotr Krasnov – and
they had planned an attempt to retake power from
Bolsheviks (‘Kerensky-Krasnov
Uprising’ (October 26 – November 2)

However,
the governmental troops were defeated, and Kerensky narrowly escaped the
Bolsheviks (dressed in navy uniform) for several months he was hiding himself
‘underground’ until he could leave the country (in summer 1918 Kerensky
arrived to Finland).

When
the Germans overran France at the start of World War II, Kerensky escaped to
the United States.

In
1945, his wife Lydia became terminally ill. He traveled with her to Brisbane,
Australia and lived there with her family until her death in February 1946.

Thereafter
he returned to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life.

‘He developed a great
circle of friends, loved a good party and mixed well, especially with the
ladies’

Kerensky died at his
home in New York on June 11, 1970.

His body was buried
in Putney Vale, London.

Kerensky was also known
for reading lectures in Stanford University and, of course, for his books – ‘Russia and History's Turning
Point’ (1965), ‘The Crucifixion of Liberty’ (1934), ‘The Catastrophe’ (1927),
‘Gatchina’ (1918) and other.

His two sons of the first
marriage Oleg and
Gleb succeeded in engineering. His grandson Oleg
was a prominent ballet critic and writer on dance, music and theatre.

Among the popular myths
about Kerensky is that that he had some ‘secret materials’ – in 1967 Texas
University acquired some his archives.

Much more interesting is
to find ‘non-secret’ materials – many of them are lost, other are kept in
private collections.

For this reason the
present Museum is organized.

Since 2001 many antiquaries,
letters, photos and personal things related to Kerensky were gathered.

Of course, this work
requests much time and expenses, and the Museum is grateful to all our
supporters.

Kerensky once joked (it
was in October 1917): ‘Why not Alexander IV? Is not ‘AK’ great amongst the
Russian Czars? Ah, no… impossible – it would be against equality and
democracy.’

However, the golden
spoons with his monogram survived.

Once (in the late 1960s)
Kerensky witnessed of himself: ‘my parents believed I would be a theologian,
I myself was dreaming on the theatre but… have become a statesman – a pretty
mocking of the life…’